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Hi,
After discussion on IRC, this is the joint draft of the
proposal under discussion (errors and omissions excepted; I am sure
that people shall not hesitate to correct my mistakes).
This proposal raises two issues, namely:
A) Amend Constitution to set up a Foundation class of non technical
documents that are treated as special cases, and require a 3:1
majority to create, modify, or withdraw. [Full text of the
amendment presented below]
B) Amend Constitution to permit the developers to issue, modify, or
withdraw non technical documents [Full text of the amendment
presented below]
Conceptually, these are orthogonal issues, and one may indeed treat
them independently. I wish to stress that the proposal specifically
allows people to vote for permission to modify and withdraw non
technical documents without creating any special case ``foundation''
document class.
However, this proposal specifically only presents a subset of
the possibilities that occur when the issues are treated independently.
For example, the proposal does not present the option to set up
foundation classes, and make them modifiable with a 3:1 majority, but,
at the same time, NOT allow modification of non technical documents
in general (YES to A, and NO to B), since we do not agree letting non
technical documents be immutable in general EXCEPT for the foundation
class documents. (Add a rider if you want that).
This proposal also does not address the view point of people
who wish to keep the foundation class documents (or a subset thereof,
like the social contract) immutable, while allowing amendment and
withdrawal of other non technical documents (with perhaps a simple
majority). The authors of this proposal are opposed to this scenario,
and proponents shall have to attempt to add a rider/amendment to this
proposal if they wish for that to be on the ballot.
A suggested ballot for the secretary to consider is:
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[ ] YES to proposal A: Foundation + issue/modify/withdraw
Amend the constitution to introduce Foundation Documents, allow
the developers to issue, modify and withdraw them with a 3:1
super majority, and to allow the developers to issue, modify
and withdraw all other non technical documents with a simple
majority
[ ] YES to proposal B issue/modify/withdraw only
Amend the constitution to allow the developers to issue, modify
and withdraw all non technical documents with a simple majority
[ ] Further discussion
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======================================================================
Proposal A: Set up Foundation Documents, and allow for issuing,
modifying, and withdrawing of non technical documents
======================================================================
4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election
4.1. Powers
Together, the Developers may:
1. Appoint or recall the Project Leader.
2. Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1 majority.
3. Override any decision by the Project Leader or a Delegate.
4. Override any decision by the Technical Committee, provided they
agree with a 2:1 majority.
5. Issue nontechnical policy documents and statements.
These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
policies such as the free software license terms that Debian
software must meet.
They may also include position statements about issues of the day.
+ 5. Issue, modify and withdraw nontechnical policy documents and statements.
+ These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
+ relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
+ policies such as the free software license terms that Debian
+ software must meet.
+ They may also include position statements about issues of the day.
+ 5.1 A special clause applies to the documents labelled as
+ "Foundation Documents". These documents are those
+ that are deemed to be critical to the core of the project,
+ they tend to define what the project is, and lay the
+ foundations of its structure. The developers may
+ issue, modify or withdraw a foundation document provided they
+ agree with a 3:1 majority.
+ 5.2 Initially, the list of foundation Documents consists
+ of this document, The Debian Constitution, as well as the
+ documents known as the Debian GNU/Linux Social Contract and the
+ Debian Free Software Guidelines. The list of the documents
+ that are deemed to be "Foundation Documents" may be changed
+ by the developers provided they agree with a 3:1 majority.
6. Together with the Project Leader and SPI, make decisions about
property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See
s.9.1.)
______________________________________________________________________
Rationale: The clause being modified has been seen recently to be quite
ambiguous. Since the original wording appeared to be amenable to two
wildly different interpretations, this change adds clarifying language to
the constitution about _changing_ or withdrawing nontechnical documents.
Additionally, this also provides for the core, or Foundation, documents of
the project the same protection against hasty changes that the
constitution itself enjoys.
======================================================================
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======================================================================
Proposal B: Issue, modify, and withdraw nontechnical documents
[No foundation class documents]
======================================================================
4. The Developers by way of General Resolution or election
4.1. Powers
Together, the Developers may:
1. Appoint or recall the Project Leader.
2. Amend this constitution, provided they agree with a 3:1 majority.
3. Override any decision by the Project Leader or a Delegate.
4. Override any decision by the Technical Committee, provided they
agree with a 2:1 majority.
5. Issue nontechnical policy documents and statements.
+ 5. Issue, modify, and withdraw nontechnical policy documents and
+ statements.
These include documents describing the goals of the project, its
relationship with other free software entities, and nontechnical
policies such as the free software license terms that Debian
software must meet.
They may also include position statements about issues of the day.
6. Together with the Project Leader and SPI, make decisions about
property held in trust for purposes related to Debian. (See
s.9.1.)
Rationale: The clause being modified has been seen recently to be quite
ambiguous. Since the original wording appeared to be amenable to two
wildly different interpretations, this change adds clarifying language to
the constitution about _changing_ or withdrawing nontechnical documents.
Furthermore, this amended proposal does not include any orthogonal issues
such as whether there exist any specific nontechnical documents that
should require unusual amendment procedures. I think such issues should
be decided on separately, since it is quite possible that reasonable
developers can feel that the above is a reasonable clarification of the
Constitution with such belief necessitating a particular position on the
issues of special nontechnical documents, their identity, or their
amendability.
======================================================================
- --
Don't tell me what you dreamed last night for I've been reading
Freud.
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
1024R/C7261095 print CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E
1024D/BF24424C print 4966 F272 D093 B493 410B 924B 21BA DABB BF24 424C
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